Rule.io MCP Server

An MCP server that gives AI assistants deep access to Rule.io email marketing — campaigns, automations, subscribers, templates, analytics, and more.

Migrating from @rulecom/mcp

The package has moved to @rule/mcp. @rulecom/mcp is deprecated and will not receive further updates.

Update your MCP config — replace @rulecom/mcp with @rule/mcp in your args:

"args": ["-y", "@rule/mcp@next"]

Global install — reinstall under the new name:

npm install -g @rule/mcp@next

Binary names — the CLI commands have changed:

| Old | New | |-----|-----| | rulecom-mcp | rule-mcp | | rulecom-mcp-http | rule-mcp-http |

Quick Start

1. Get a Rule.io API key

Create one at app.rule.io under Settings > Developer.

2. Add to Claude Desktop

Open your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json) and add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rule-io": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@rule/mcp@next"],
      "env": {
        "RULE_IO_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Add to Claude Code

Add a .mcp.json file to your project root (or your user settings.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rule-io": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@rule/mcp@next"],
      "env": {
        "RULE_IO_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

That's it. The server starts automatically when Claude needs it.

Tools

38 tools organized into 7 categories. Four are interactive — they return a ui:// resource that renders inline in claude.ai (account digest, analytics, template preview, campaigns table) and a JSON text fallback for non-UI clients.

Tags

| Tool | Description | Key Inputs | |------|-------------|------------| | rule_list_tags | List all tags in your Rule.io account | (none) | | rule_find_tag | Find a tag's numeric ID by name | name |

Subscribers

| Tool | Description | Key Inputs | |------|-------------|------------| | rule_create_subscriber | Create a new subscriber | email, phone_number?, language?, status? | | rule_get_subscriber | Get subscriber by email (profile + fields + tags) | email | | rule_delete_subscriber | Delete a subscriber | subscriber, identified_by? | | rule_manage_subscriber_tags | Add or remove tags from a subscriber | subscriber, identified_by?, action, tags, trigger_automation? | | rule_bulk_manage_tags | Bulk add/remove tags for multiple subscribers | action, tags, subscribers[{ email?, phone_number? }], trigger_automation? | | rule_set_subscriber_fields | Set custom field data on a subscriber | subscriber_id, groups[{ group, values[{ field, value, historical? }] }] | | rule_list_subscribers_by_tag | List subscribers having ALL given tag IDs (AND / intersection) | tag_ids[], limit?, page? | | rule_block_subscribers | Block or unblock multiple subscribers | action, subscribers[{ email? \| phone_number? \| id? }] |

Automations

| Tool | Description | Key Inputs | |------|-------------|------------| | rule_create_automation_email | Create complete email automation in one step | name, trigger_tag, subject, template, sendout_type? | | rule_list_automations | List email automations | active?, query?, page?, per_page? | | rule_get_automation | Get automation details by ID, optionally merged with analytics metrics | id, include_analytics?{ date_from, date_to, metrics[], message_type? } | | rule_update_automation | Update an automation | id, active?, sendout_type?, trigger_type?, trigger_id? | | rule_delete_automation | Delete an automation | id |

Campaigns

| Tool | Description | Key Inputs | |------|-------------|------------| | rule_create_campaign | Create a one-off email campaign | name?, sendout_type? | | rule_create_campaign_email | Create a complete campaign with email in one step | name, subject, tags or segments or subscribers, template or brand_style_id | | rule_list_campaigns | Interactive. List campaigns. Renders as a filterable, sortable table in claude.ai. | page?, per_page? | | rule_get_campaign | Get campaign details by ID, optionally merged with analytics metrics | id, include_analytics?{ date_from, date_to, metrics[], message_type? } | | rule_update_campaign | Update a campaign | id, name?, sendout_type? | | rule_delete_campaign | Delete a campaign | id | | rule_copy_campaign | Duplicate an existing campaign | id | | rule_list_segments | List available segments for campaign targeting | page?, per_page? | | rule_schedule_campaign | Schedule, send, or cancel a campaign | id, action, datetime? |

Templates

| Tool | Description | Key Inputs | |------|-------------|------------| | rule_create_template | Create RCML email template | name, message_id, content | | rule_list_templates | List templates | page?, per_page? | | rule_render_template | Interactive. Render template to HTML (with optional merge tag substitution). Renders as a sandboxed preview in claude.ai. | id, subscriber_id? | | rule_get_template | Get template details by ID | id | | rule_delete_template | Delete a template | id | | rule_find_template_usage | Find the single campaign or automation that owns a template (returns { owner: null } if unused). Scans dispatchers until first match — no direct owner endpoint in Rule.io yet. | id |

Analytics

| Tool | Description | Key Inputs | |------|-------------|------------| | rule_get_analytics | Interactive. Per-object metrics for one or more dispatchers (campaigns, automations, A/B tests, transactional sends, journeys). object_type, object_ids, and metrics are all required — the Rule.io API has no account-wide aggregation mode. For an account-level digest of the first 100 campaigns and 100 automations, use rule_get_account_digest. message_type optionally filters by channel. Renders as a chart + filterable table in claude.ai. | date_from, date_to, object_type, object_ids[], metrics[], message_type? | | rule_export_data | Export raw data: dispatchers (send metadata, max 1-day range), statistics (one record per subscriber event — opens, clicks, bounces, etc.), or subscribers. Use rule_get_analytics for per-dispatcher totals or rule_get_account_digest for an account-level summary. | type, date_from, date_to, statistic_types[]?, next_page_token? | | rule_get_account_digest | Interactive. Pre-rolled performance digest for a date range — totals + rates summed across the first 100 campaigns and 100 automations returned by the listing endpoints (no date filter on the listings themselves; per-dispatcher metrics are still scoped to the window), top N dispatchers by unique opens, and a soft/hard/spam bounce breakdown. Totals are computed client-side because the Rule.io API has no account-wide endpoint. Defaults to the last 7 days. Partial failures surface as warnings instead of failing the whole call. Renders as a dashboard in claude.ai. | days_back?, date_from?, date_to?, top_n? |

Admin

| Tool | Description | Key Inputs | |------|-------------|------------| | rule_list_brand_styles | List brand styles | (none) | | rule_get_brand_style | Get full details of a brand style | id | | rule_manage_brand_style | Create/update/delete brand styles | action, id?, domain?, name? | | rule_suppress_subscribers | Suppress subscribers from emails | subscribers[] | | rule_unsuppress_subscribers | Remove suppression | subscribers[] |

Resources

Resources provide read-only context that AI assistants can pull in automatically.

| URI | Description | |-----|-------------| | rule://tags | All tags | | rule://brand-styles | All brand styles | | rule://segments | All segments | | rule://automations/{id} | Automation by ID | | rule://campaigns/{id} | Campaign by ID | | rule://templates/{id} | Template by ID | | rule://brand-styles/{id} | Brand style by ID |

Prompts

Pre-built workflow guides that walk the AI through multi-step email setups.

E-commerce

| Prompt | Description | |--------|-------------| | create_order_confirmation_email | Order confirmation automation guide | | create_shipping_update_email | Shipping notification guide | | create_abandoned_cart_email | Abandoned cart recovery guide | | create_order_cancellation_email | Order cancellation guide |

Hospitality

| Prompt | Description | |--------|-------------| | create_reservation_confirmation_email | Reservation confirmation guide | | create_reservation_reminder_email | Pre-arrival reminder guide | | create_feedback_request_email | Post-stay feedback guide |

Integrations

| Prompt | Description | |--------|-------------| | setup_shopify_integration | Shopify setup guide | | setup_bookzen_integration | Bookzen setup guide |

Environment Variables

| Variable | Required | Description | |----------|----------|-------------| | RULE_IO_API_KEY | Yes | Your Rule.io API key | | RULE_IO_DEBUG | No | Set to "true" for debug logging | | RULE_IO_BASE_URL_V2 | No | Custom base URL for v2 API | | RULE_IO_BASE_URL_V3 | No | Custom base URL for v3 API | | RULE_IO_MAX_CONCURRENCY | No | Max concurrent in-flight Rule.io API calls per session (default: 4). Lower this if your account hits rate limits; raise it once Rule.io documents official limits. | | RULE_IO_MAX_RETRIES | No | Number of retries on a 429 from the Rule.io API before surfacing the error (default: 2, so up to 3 total attempts). Set to 0 to disable retries entirely. |

Examples

Create a subscriber and tag them

"Add [email protected] as a subscriber with the tag 'VIP'"

The AI calls two tools in sequence:

// 1. rule_create_subscriber
{ "email": "[email protected]", "language": "en" }
// → { "id": 42, "email": "[email protected]", ... }

// 2. rule_manage_subscriber_tags
{ "subscriber": "[email protected]", "action": "add", "tags": ["VIP"] }
// → { "message": "Tags added successfully" }

Set up an abandoned cart automation

"Set up an abandoned cart recovery email for our Shopify store"

The AI uses the create_abandoned_cart_email prompt for step-by-step guidance, then calls rule_create_automation_email with the trigger tag, subject, and RCML template:

{
  "name": "Abandoned Cart Recovery",
  "trigger_tag": "shopify_checkout_abandoned",
  "subject": "You left something behind!",
  "template": { "type": "rcml", "content": [{ "type": "section", "content": ["..."] }] },
  "sendout_type": "marketing"
}
// → { "success": true, "automail_id": 101, "message_id": 202, "template_id": 303, "dynamic_set_id": 404 }

Check campaign performance

"How did last week's newsletter perform?"

The AI calls rule_get_analytics with the campaign ID and date range:

{
  "date_from": "2025-06-01",
  "date_to": "2025-06-07",
  "object_type": "CAMPAIGN",
  "object_ids": ["12345"],
  "metrics": ["open_uniq", "click_uniq", "total_bounce", "unsubscribe"]
}
// → { data: [{ id: "12345", metrics: [{ metric: "open_uniq", value: 1240 }, ...] }] }

Create a brand style from a website

"Create a brand style based on https://example.com"

The AI calls rule_manage_brand_style with action: create_from_domain to create a new brand style with colors, fonts, and logo extracted from the site:

{ "action": "create_from_domain", "domain": "https://example.com" }
// → { "id": 7, "name": "example.com", "colors": { "primary": "#000" }, "fonts": { "heading": "Arial" } }

Rate limits

Rule.io has not published formal rate limits. The server enables the Rule.io SDK's rateLimiting transport gate with two defenses:

• Concurrency cap — every Rule.io HTTP request goes through a per-session semaphore (default RULE_IO_MAX_CONCURRENCY=4). Multiple tools running in parallel cannot saturate the API by themselves.
• 429 retries that honor Retry-After — on a rate-limit response, the call is retried up to RULE_IO_MAX_RETRIES times (default 2). When Rule.io supplies a Retry-After header, the SDK transport honors it and the gate waits exactly that long before retrying — important because Rule.io's observed 49 % error-rate trigger means retrying inside the suggested window accelerates a longer block. Without the header, the gate falls back to exponential backoff with jitter. Server-suggested waits beyond the gate's cap rethrow the 429 immediately rather than stalling tool calls.

The gate lives in the SDK transport, so it counts every HTTP request — including the paginated fan-outs inside namespace methods like subscribers.listSubscribersByTagIds. Tools that fan out (rule_get_account_digest ≈14 calls, rule_find_template_usage capped scan, rule_get_campaign / rule_get_automation with include_analytics +1 call, rule_get_subscriber 3 parallel calls) all flow through the same gate. If you orchestrate this server from another agent, avoid looping the high-cost tools over a list of IDs; prefer batching at the LLM layer or scoping by date range.

Links

• Rule.io API documentation
• @rulecom/sdk — The underlying SDK this server wraps
• Model Context Protocol specification

License

MIT